The present invention relates to liquid drainage systems, and more particularly to drainage receptacles for such systems.
In the past, urine has been drained from a patient's bladder during catheterization in the following manner. A distal end of a catheter is positioned in the bladder, with a proximal end of the catheter located outside the patient's body, and the proximal end of the catheter is attached to a drainage bag or to a drainage tube which communicates with the drainage bag. Urine drains from the bladder through the catheter to a chamber in the bag where it is collected.
Since the use of the drainage system poses the danger of introducing infection into the body cavity, it is necessary to maintain the system in a sterile condition. In the past, difficulties have been encountered in obtaining a sample of urine from the systems without contaminating the sample and system. For example, if the catheter is removed from the drainage tube to obtain the sample, bacteria may be introduced into the system during this procedure. Moreover, the procedure of disconnecting and again connecting the catheter has been found inconvenient to hospital personnel.